How are you liking the new Apple mobile iOS 4?

[HappyTree]

I have an iPod Touch and recently upgraded the OS to the new one for the iPhone 4. It's pretty cool. Folders are a good idea, apps are more easily found. I like how I can choose my own background for the home screen now.

One bad point I've noticed is that the wifi now continues to work even when the unit is switched off. This seems to drain the battery a lot faster. I want my iPod to be OFF, not beeping every time I get a Facebook message and then having to be recharged more often.

I suppose I could turn off the wifi myself when I put the iPod down. I wonder if there's a way to get it not to remain on when I press the off button.

But apart from that, yeah it seems like an improvement.

[hoverdonkey]

I have a 3GS. I always just flip wifi off when I leave the house. The battery life seems better to me. The camera seems better too, quicker shutter. I like the GPS on the camera too

[thepuffpastryhangman]

After putting on my old 3G phone things looked better but that's about it, battery life wasn't improved and Safari was worse. It seemed to stall on scrolling and expanding pages. So a waste of time really.

So far so fantastic on my new 4 phone though.

[jutl]

A lot of apps seem to have gone fucky under the new OS, with some looking like they'll not be updated. I'm less than enthusiastic about the 'multitasking' aspect too. Yes, it helps in some situations, but too many apps don't resume correctly and the ridiculous list of supposedly 'running' apps is just awkward and useless.

[Milo]

The multitasking does seem pretty poor. My friend said that if she uses it to listen to the radio it stops if she has to reply to a text message, and if she has a Messenger program running it will disconnect if she goes to do anything else.

Palm Pre is miles better at it (though admittedly it has different downsides).

[Old Thrashbarg]

It's not proper multi-tasking in that only certain, approved apps will be left running in the background. It seems like another case of Apple wanting to have control of what you can and can't do (presumably, fairly intensive applications aren't allowed to continue to run in the background because of the effects on battery life, for example) to the detriment of the user.

[jutl]

It's not proper multi-tasking in that only certain, approved apps will be left running in the background. It seems like another case of Apple wanting to have control of what you can and can't do (presumably, fairly intensive applications aren't allowed to continue to run in the background because of the effects on battery life, for example) to the detriment of the user.

Certain kinds of task can be passed to the OS when an app exits. Apps that aren't written to take advantage of this just exit. TuneIn Radio is a good example of an audio app that does play nicely with the pretend multitasking.

[Braintree]

Does the current location GPS seem more accurate to anyone else? It used to put my location as the road next to where I was but it seems to be work now and thus makes journey planning more accurate.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

Yes! It actually seemed to pinpoint me in the garden, so far back from the road when I tried it tuther day. I could be trippin' though, as the grid reference readings are the same, ie no more precise numerically (I think).

[gigolo aunts aren't gentlemen]

It seems faintly ridiculous that all these new features have been on Symbian phones for about ten years. Folders, multitasking etc. I had been considering an iPhone as my next phone but when I found out they'd only just incorporated multitasking I decided not to. Could you not listen to music while doing other stuff before?

Also, how good is Opera Mini 5? Tabbed browsing on a phone is very futuristic.

[wasp_f15ting]

Its pretty awesome on the Iphone 4.. 326PPI w00t



I had to wait like a cunt for 3 1/2 hours though. Its an overpowered waste though nothing takes advantage of the hardware yet.

The video camera is ace.

[jutl]

Could you not listen to music while doing other stuff before?

Some Apple apps (like music) were allowed to multitask before.

[Slaaaaabs]

I suppose I could turn off the wifi myself when I put the iPod down. I wonder if there's a way to get it not to remain on when I press the off button.

Are there any Apps that can turn WiFi on and off at the press of a button? If not then I can recommend SBSettings if you jailbreak your iPoddle.

[The Boston Crab]

I had a go on my mate's HTC the other day. I couldn't believe how hard and what sheer mass of shit it deposited on the iPhone.

I think i'll get one of them when my current pocket pal dies.

[HappyTree]

It's not so bad, the new iOS has introduced a "flight mode" switch at the top of the Settings menu. Just switch that on and the wifi goes off. I'll just get used to switching it on manually when I want to use it. I didn't like the idea of wifi continuing when the unit is in standby.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

It's always had that, in the same place, they just call it 'Airplane mode' now.

[greencalx]

I had a go on my mate's HTC the other day. I couldn't believe how hard and what sheer mass of shit it deposited on the iPhone.

Could you expand on that? I'm considering getting a smartphone at some point, and have narrowed the choice down to HTC and an iPhone, but I haven't yet found a way to try them out side-by-side.

[Ignatius_S]

It seems faintly ridiculous that all these new features have been on Symbian phones for about ten years. Folders, multitasking etc. I had been considering an iPhone as my next phone but when I found out they'd only just incorporated multitasking I decided not to. Could you not listen to music while doing other stuff before?

Also, how good is Opera Mini 5? Tabbed browsing on a phone is very futuristic.

Faintly ridiculous maybe, but the fact remains that Symbian is losing market share badly - today it has about 44% of the smart phone market, when nearly two years ago it was 57% and the year previously it was 66%. - of course, the smart phone market has increased massively in that time. Android was about ten percent and that came less than two years.

Recently a few commentators and hacks have been pointing that Apple isn't marketing certain features as new, never seen features, but instead touts at well they've been implemented instead - for example:

During his keynote address on Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that while Apple may not be the first to release features, they do so in a way that's the best implementation.
Many people view this as absolute bullshit. But what that implies is that they think Apple simply cannot get features done in time — or that they will not do them for some reason. I have a hard time believing either of those is the case.
Jobs cited the iPhone's cut, copy, & paste functionality as one example of Apple getting a feature right. I have to agree. For two years, everyone complained (myself included) that Apple didn't have this functionality. Could Apple have done it sooner? Of course. But would it have been half-baked? Probably. Just look at how it works on other devices — or maybe I should say: look at how poorly it works on other devices compared to the iPhone....
- http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/09/iphone-4-missing-features/

Not saying I agree, but that's the way that Apple sees it... publicly anyway.

Yes, you could listen to music whilst doing other stuff, but it was dependent on what app you used - iTunes is an obvious example of one you could, Audio files via Safari also worked. Something like  Spotify, for example, couldn't work in the background, so if you came out to check your email say, the music would stop. One radio scanner application I have got around this by having a background mode, whereby the audio being steamed was streamed via Safari instead of the app. As Jutl said, some Apple apps will allowed to process in the background thanks to limited multitasking.

re: Opera mini - page rendering can have a few glitches, but it's very fast... and that's the killer feature.

It's always had that, in the same place, they just call it 'Airplane mode' now.

[Squink]

I had a go on my mate's HTC the other day. I couldn't believe how hard and what sheer mass of shit it deposited on the iPhone.

I actually can't work out from that statement whether you preferred the HTC phone you tried or the iPhone. Kids today and their lingo eh?

[Stanley Turbine]

I had a go on my mate's HTC the other day. I couldn't believe how hard and what sheer mass of shit it deposited on the iPhone.

I think i'll get one of them when my current pocket pal dies.

I got an HTC Desire last month and I absolutely love it. I ended up rooting it pretty much immediately and I have Android 2.2 on it now, so I have Flash 10.1 (though HTC has now said the official release of 2.2 will be in Q3 of this year). Plus on Android you can install apps from wherever you want, you aren't at the mercy of the whims of whatever cunts decide what's allowed on the market like with Apple.

[jutl]

I got an HTC Desire last month and I absolutely love it. I ended up rooting it pretty much immediately and I have Android 2.2 on it now, so I have Flash 10.1 (though HTC has now said the official release of 2.2 will be in Q3 of this year). Plus on Android you can install apps from wherever you want, you aren't at the mercy of the whims of whatever cunts decide what's allowed on the market like with Apple.

All very true. My experience with HTC hardware (the G1) was fairly negative though - shitty keyboard, dreadful battery life, close-to-silent ringer. For Android I'd be more tempted by the Motorola or even new Dell hardware.

Edit to add: the SE kit looks good too.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

I know this is a silly thing is argue about, but, ha...they (HTC et al) feel like shit don't they? I tried hard to choose anything but a i4, and failed. The rest might perform well but they're like Renault 5 turbos compared to an 8 series Beamer when it comes to gauging tactile appeal. And being as you spend a helluva lorra time holding the thing, and touching it, tactility (?) is quite important.

I wonder what % of phone users care about Flash 10.1? (Yup, I've no actual evidence for this, but I'd guess it's below 1%.) How many care about how their phone feels and how nice it is to use, I'd guess that's a wee bit higher.

I hereby endeth the ad. (Those portraits on the Pad are pretty groovey too, no?)

[jutl]

I know this is a silly thing is argue about, but, ha...they (HTC et al) feel like shit don't they? I tried hard to choose anything but a i4, and failed. The rest might perform well but they're like Renault 5 turbos compared to an 8 series Beamer when it comes to gauging tactile appeal. And being as you spend a helluva lorra time holding the thing, and touching it, tactility (?) is quite important.

I wonder what % of phone users care about Flash 10.1? (Yup, I've no actual evidence for this, but I'd guess it's below 1%.) How many care about how their phone feels and how nice it is to use, I'd guess that's a wee bit higher.

I hereby endeth the ad. (Those portraits on the Pad are pretty groovey too, no?)

Nokia make good hardware too, although less so these days, and the Milestone/Droid is lovely. Apple hardware is generally good, but when it's not they are really bad at admitting it. I've no particular agenda for Flash, but the general attitude that allows Apple to banish Adobe in this way is ugly and arrogant. Finally the iPad is the devil, as I've repeatedly endlessly on here before. Aside from all the 'walled garden in general computing space' issues, it also undermines totally Apple's wanky argument that they are the nexus of technology and 'liberal arts'. iPads are notebooks for people who just want to consume.

[Old Thrashbarg]

I know this is a silly thing is argue about, but, ha...they (HTC et al) feel like shit don't they?

No. The keyboard on the HTC Desire is by far the best I've used on a mobile device (touch screen or otherwise).

[thepuffpastryhangman]

I picked several HTCs up in t'shop and they felt like they'd fallen out of a Kwik Save Christmas cracker.

[jutl]

No. The keyboard on the HTC Desire is by far the best I've used on a mobile device (touch screen or otherwise).

That's the standard Android on-screen one, though, isn't it?

[Zero Gravitas]

How many care about how their phone feels and how nice it is to use, I'd guess that's a wee bit higher.

Fighting. back. nerdrage.

[jutl]

Fighting. back. nerdrage.

Not sure why... mobile computers are a combination of technology and engineering, and the latter isn't nothing. I loved Android but hated the hardware it ran on, so got rid of it.

[Zero Gravitas]

Selecting hardware based on the casing is for bitches.

[Old Thrashbarg]

I picked several HTCs up in t'shop and they felt like they'd fallen out of a Kwik Save Christmas cracker.

Well I picked up an iPhone (pick an incarnation, any incarnation) and it felt like it'd been rejected from the Kwik Save Christmas cracker 'prize' pool.

That's the standard Android on-screen one, though, isn't it?

It's a (fairly) heavily modified version and it does improve the slightly disappointing and unresponsive Android keyboard massively.